Writing by Hand is Good for your Brain - Here's how to do it
nealstephenson.substack.com
Because I am known to write using a fountain pen on paper, a number of people have pointed me to this post and its underlying research. I won’t rehash what is said in those sources, but the gist of it is that when you write things down by hand you’re recruiting more of your brain, which is a good thing.

About twenty-five years ago I stopped composing at the keyboard and switched over to fountain pen on paper. Since then I have written many thousands of pages that way. The manuscript of The Baroque Cycle was a stack of handwritten pages 42 inches high, which for a time was on display at the Museum of Science Fiction in Seattle. With the exception of The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., which I co-wrote with Nicole Galland by emailing Word files back and forth, every book I’ve written since then has been composed with fountain pen on paper.

  • chemical_cutthroat
    7·
    5 days ago

    I adore Stephenson, he’s one of my favorites, but we have COMPLETELY different writing processes. I could never dream of writing on paper like that anymore. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but the time sink is just too much for me to justify. I can’t work 40 hours a week and then go home and write on paper just to have to type it into a computer anyway.

    However, this very much tracks with his brand of fiction. He doesn’t edit as he goes, and that’s apparent. Stories often don’t end where you think they will, and a lot of that probably comes from being forced to live with what you wrote 5 chapters ago instead of being able to go back and edit it in Word.

    • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zipEnglish
      5·
      5 days ago

      write on paper just to have to type it into a computer anyway.

      I don’t think he does that himself.

      Stories often don’t end where you think they will, and a lot of that probably comes from being forced to live with what you wrote 5 chapters ago instead of being able to go back and edit it in Word.

      Um. That’s not how writing by hand works - it’s not meant to look good. You can scratch out, squeeze in, re-number pages, add asterisks, even cut into pieces, as the story requires.